1. Field of the Disclosure
The technology of the disclosure relates to a fiber optic apparatus, and more particularly to a fiber optic apparatus having a routing guide adapted for use with a movable fiber optic equipment tray or module to provide for improved cable management.
2. Technical Background
Benefits of optical fiber use include extremely wide bandwidth and low noise operation. Because of these advantages, optical fiber is increasingly being used for a variety of applications, including but not limited to broadband voice, video, and data transmission. Fiber optic networks employing optical fiber are being developed and used to deliver voice, video, and data transmissions to subscribers over both private and public networks. These fiber optic networks often include separated connection points at which it is necessary to link optical fibers in order to provide “live fiber” from one connection point to another connection point. In this regard, fiber optic equipment is located in data centers or central offices to support such interconnections.
The fiber optic equipment is typically included in housings that are mounted in equipment racks to maximize the use of space. The fiber optic equipment may have a cable connector point for making cable-to-cable fiber optic connections. Examples of such fiber optic equipment are patch panels and fiber optic modules, to name just two. Both the patch panel and the fiber optic module are designed to provide the cable-to-cable fiber optic connections through a fiber optic adapter, which also allows for the management of the polarity of fiber optic cable connections. The patch panel and the fiber optic module are typically mounted to a chassis which is then mounted inside an equipment rack or housing. The chassis may be provided in the form of a tray that is extendable from and retractable toward the equipment rack like a drawer. Thus, the patch panel and/or the fiber optic module may also be extendable from and retractable toward the equipment rack. Thus, extending the patch panel and/or fiber optic module allows a technician access to fiber optic adapters disposed on the patch panel or in the fiber optic module. In this manner, the technician may access any fiber optic cables connected to the fiber optic adapters without removing the fiber optic module from the equipment rack. However, as the tray, and therefore the patch panel and/or fiber optic module, extend and retract, the fiber optic cables routed to the equipment rack and to the fiber optic module may tend to be pulled and displaced. Such pulling and displacing of the fiber optic cables may result in the fiber optic cables becoming disorganized, misaligned and possibly tangled. Additionally, in such case the fiber optic cables may become tensed or stressed.